Time to Catch Up with the BBC and BBC2

Disappointed with this season of Homeland? Feel like the drama on Once Upon a Time has become too convoluted forgetting their own set-ups? Is Grey's Anatomy one step away from Daytime soap territory?  One thing is for sure many of the new fall dramas are hitting it out of the park, especially Masters of Sex, The Blacklist, and Sleepy Hollow.

While these new shows are aces, there are a lot of shows on BBC, and BBC Canada, which have made there way to the States, and are stealing the thunder of American shows.  Many people know about Downton Abbey, and Sherlock because they air on PBS.  Both shows have become increasingly popular, and found their fan in the United Kingdom, and all over the world.  Downton mixes a study in understanding a different time period with all the classic elements of the modern drama.  Sherlock sets Holmes and Watson in the modern day, and with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman on the case you can't go wrong.  These two shows have hit the mainstream, but there a few others shows/mini-series, which you need to check out.

Continuum is a Canadian Sci-Fi series, is set in 2077, and the present day.  A cop is sent back in time to prevent an anarchist group from rising, and creating a future in which corporations run every aspect of society.  The show is two seasons in, and third is on the way.  The first two seasons of the show is on Netflix, and worth a watch, there is some great action, and the plot moves at a rapid pace.  Season twos cliff hanger was off the charts great.

Curious to see if Jaime Dornan can pull off the dark aspects of Christian Grey?  Watch The Fall a BBC Two series, and you will see just how great he is at playing complicated men.  Dornan plays a serial killer and Gillian Anderson from The X-Files fame plays a cop hot on his trail.  The Fall is an edge of your seat drama, with only five episodes this is a quick watch on Netflix, and the second series (season) is set to begin filming in early 2014.  Catch up now, and you will be ready to watch this cat and mouse game unfold.

Have you heard the name Tatiana Maslany? If no, you are behind the curve on this, and should tune into the first season Orphan Black another Canadian Sci-fi series about a series of women who are clones.  Maslany plays numerous different characters ranging from a soccer mom, to a scientist, and Ukrainian spy , to name a few.  Maslany is the heart of the show; she won several American critics awards, and the show itself is interesting taking down the concept of the advancing science/technology, and the scary hold it has on our lives.    Check out BBC America, if you have it, or look for season one online.  The show will be back for season two in 2014.

At the moment Top of the Lake is looking like a mini-series rather than a full out series from BBC2  and Jane Campion (The Piano).  I will be honest the pacing of the show is a bit slower than the normal procedural in the States, but this 6 episode mini-series starring Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), and Holly Hunter was a great character study in patriarchy and the role of having a female cop come in and work to find a missing 12 year old pregnant girl.  Set in New Zealand this show series was not only beautiful, but filled with great performances.  You can watch the series on Netflix.

I sound like I am doing a lot of advertising for Netflix, and the BBC, but the truth is that these shows are an excellent escape from the typical every drama in the States.  One of the interesting facts about all these successful series is that they center around strong women, something missing in dramas in the States, although this is getting better.  Check out this series, the Brits, Canadians, and Aussies may be on to something!

Performer to Watch: Benedict Cumberbatch

Many people are familiar with Benedict Cumberbatch, but this weekend even more people are going to know who he is because of his role in the Star Trek: Into Darkness.  People will also become enamored with his name, because it is honestly one of the most fun names to say over and over again.  Beyond saying his name Cumberbatch has made his mark already, in BBC television, and small art films, but as this year proves he is a star, and major player on the rise.

Most of Cumberbatch's early work is from British television, namely television shows, and mini-series like Fortysomething, Silent Witness, Broken News, The Last Enemy, and National Theatre Live.  Yet it's his work in the show Sherlock on BBC, which has become the show getting him the big roles.  British shows/mini-series have had success in the States before the 2010s, but their adaptations US adaptations like The Office and Being Human, and first run series like Downton, Luther, and Sherlock have never been more popular.  Aside from the US adaptations the PBS broadcast BBC shows like Downton and Sherlock are popular because they transcend the ocean which separates the UK and the States.  Sherlock Holmes is one of the most popular characters in all of literature, and this series helps bring him to life from a different vantage point.

In the BBC version Cumberbatch plays Sherlock more true to form to the literature, heightening his unlike able characteristics, but in a modern day setting   Sherlock and Watson team up against Moriarty of course, but its Cumberbatch's performance which help further the success of this series.  Cumberbatch does a great job with this role, but this was not his first role of note.

Cumberbatch has not only done many British television series but he has done a great deal of British produced films including Atonement, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  In both films Cumberbatch has this quiet brilliance.    In Atonement his despicable, and makes you hate him only with a few scenes.  In Spy he conveys so much of the emotional character through his face.  Both of these film roles along with Sherlock have proven his strength within the acting world, and now his most recent role in Star Trek will launch him into the world of bigger films.

Cumberbatch is no stranger to being part of of big budget films.  Cumberbatch played Major Jamie Stewart in War Horse and the Necromancer in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. While Horse was mostly focused on, well the horse, and the young boy, and Cumberbatch was hidden while playing the Necromancer, there is no hiding in the role of Khan in Star Trek.  Cumberbatch never chews the scenery; he merely creates the complex, layered villain many have come to loathe, and become intrigued by within the world of Star Trek.  Cumberbatch is brilliant in the role, and he steals the film, people will be talking about him all Summer!

While Cumberbatch is going to be someone talked about all Summer he also going to be on people's minds starring in three major films, which may get a lot of Oscar attention.  August Osage County (John Wells), 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen), and The Fifth Estate (Bill Condon).  I am predicting it now, Cumberbatch will receive a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.  Along with these three major roles, he will be part of the rest of The Hobbit trilogy, and Sherlock third season (probably it's last).  Cumberbatch has so much going for him, and he deserves to be on the rise!

The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes

Yesterday I finally sat down and started watching the first series of Sherlock, the BBC television series, which is an adaptation of the works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Scottish author and physician Doyle created the character of Sherlock Holmes in 1887, in a series of short stories.  Holmes is seen as a "consulting" detective for Scotland Yard; he uses an acute sense of logical reasoning, has a knack for disguises, and forensic science to help solve crimes.  Doyle's characterization of this man, has left an indelible mark of literature that has moved into being an important part of film and television.

In more recent years Sherlock Holmes has captivated audiences in many different methods.  One of the most interesting adaptations, or interpretations is the television series House (or House M.D.).  Gregory House (played by Hugh Laurie) is a cantankerous doctor who uses that insane acute logical reasoning, along with medical knowledge to help his team solve medical mysteries at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital.  House's confident and closest friend is Dr. James Wilson, the more kind hearted, and level headed of the pair.  Most loyal fans of the show have seen this connection, but to everyday viewer probably misses out on how Doyle's massively famous detective influenced television creator David Shore.  Shore brilliantly deduced that Holmes popularity could be translated in a not so obvious way to Laurie's sarcastic doc.  The show was a massive success and recently just ended its series run this past May.

In 2009 Sherlock Holmes received a more literal adaptation with film distributed by Warner Brothers entitled, go figure, Sherlock Holmes.  This film centered on 1891 London and the the relationship between Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and his trusty side-kick Watson (Jude Law) as they investigated the supposed death of Lord Blackwood.  The film, directed by Guy Ritchie,  was released on Christmas Day, opened to decent reviews, and made a large sum at the box office proving that the legend of this famous detective had a lot of bite.  Two years later in 2011 Ritchie returned to the directors chair, and brought back Downey Jr. and Law in the sequel entitled Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.  The sequels reviews were not as strong, and audiences did not show up right away but in the slow holiday season, audiences returned to 221 B Baker to watch Holmes take on his arch nemesis Professor James Moriarty (Jarred Harris).

The real crowning achievement (quality wise) in the world of adaptations is the recent BBC adaptation of the classic story.  The television series entitled Sherlock, stars Benedict Cumberbatch as a modern day Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson his faithful sidekick.  This modern birthed by Mark Gattis, and Steven Moffat puts Holmes and Watson in similar mysterious situations, but uses modern day touches to help carefully create beautiful stories.  Steven Moffat's writing is brilliantly paced, and within what the Brits call the first series (or season) the three episodes explore mysteries with a commercial free 90 minutes that allows the mystery, and character development to unfold nicely.  Gattis and Moffat use classic Holmes stories to help construct their modern day adaptation of this story.  One of my favorite aspects of the show is that Watson is a blogger instead of a physician turned author, that minor detail never feels trite or pandering merely the sign these men know how to construct a modern adaptation of classic literature.

In the fall Sherlock Holmes is getting an American adaptation with the television series Elementary.  The differences are that Holmes is moving the New York, and his sidekick is Joan Watson a female played by Lucy Lui.  Obviously one of the differences here is that the homoerotic undertones to Holmes will be missing in this series, which are beautifully woven in the BBC version.  This show could be a massive success because of the lore of the character, and it's on CBS, which will pull in a wide demographic.  The major question is why does this character translate so well?

These television shows, and films are just a hand full of the most recent adaptations within 2000s.  Before the 2000s there were films dating as far back as 1939, and television series adaptations as recent as the 1980s.  This character's intense ways for crime solving are indelible.  Doyle left a lasting mark in literature that has evolved into more recent mediums of popular culture, much like the way Shakespeare influences popular culture today.  The character of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson are the perfect dynamic duo, they complete each other signifying this great push and pull.  There is chemistry on friend level, which allows these two men to work congruently as they fight crime, and solve the most fascinating mysteries.  People love well plotted mysteries (they even love poorly plotted ones), but within this varying adaptations we are left with incredible adaptations of one of the most complicated men, solving mysteries, what more could modern day audiences want?  Nothing.